


Neighbours From Hell

by AcousticStorm



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Clace for a while, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-06-08 16:12:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6862534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AcousticStorm/pseuds/AcousticStorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec's apartment building had been his peaceful refuge since he had moved in five years before, so when an outsider threatened to offset the precarious equilibrium he created for himself, he knew for sure he would hate the guy. He would.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

      Alec was not ashamed to say he attended every single Backgammon Thursday in his apartment building, nor that he was the youngest person there by at least 40 years. (Mrs. Anderson’s 9-year-old grandson totally didn’t count). It was the fact that it was the most social part of his week that was a slight problem.

      Izzy had constantly picked on him for it when she was still living there, but then she moved in with Meliorn and he was left alone in the apartment. The upside of it all was that when the silence got too loud, there were at least five apartments he could go to and be met with hot tea and homemade cookies.

      Everyone had always said he was a 60-year old cat grandma at heart, and he couldn’t really deny it; he had always found it weird, approaching people his age. He had friends, thank you very much, Lydia and Raj from the restaurant he worked at liked to hang out with him, kind of, but he just found it easier and better to simply not bother others, never knew how to approach them anyway.

      Plus, Mrs. Taylor had the absolute best experiences he could ever imagine: from swing clubs in the 60s to a road trip from California to Boston when she hitchhiked only in Beetles, it was all insane, and Alec’s life would never be that crazy, so he enjoyed listening to it. All 30 times she decided to share it with him.

      It was a routine he was comfortable with, away from the poison that had been his childhood. He relished the peace, the sure way he always ate lasagna on every second Tuesday because Mrs. Wilson sent her husband up one floor to give it to him, the way everything had been the same for as long as he had lived there. Isabelle couldn’t bear it, and he didn’t blame her; he knew she was more adventurous than him, couldn’t stand the routine, but he didn’t mind it.

      Everything had always been the same, except when it suddenly wasn’t.

* * *

      The studio above him had been empty for more than five years, apparently, since everyone in the building chased out the previous tenant with ladles and rolling pins when they heard gunshots, but Alec knew the guy from college, and besides being into some pretty weird music, he was harmless. He was the one who had actually told him about the empty apartment on the fifth floor, and when he came in a few months after the guy left, all the ladies instantly declared him better than that “filthy boy” who had lived in the studio.

      Thus, when the new guy actually moved in there, it was the only thing anyone talked about for a while. Frankly, Alec got annoyed by it from day 1, when he could barely get his sleep because the guy had apparently decided 6 AM was the best time to drill holes in the wall.

      Alec had managed to avoid him for almost a week as the noises continued, thankfully, because he had barely gotten any sleep in the process and he was ready to _kill_ him, whoever it was; he had painted a very ugly picture in his mind, of a thing with a crooked nose and two missing front teeth, and had managed to fall back asleep every late morning only after throwing a significant amount of darts to his face in his thoughts.

      He had even bought earplugs, and he _hated_ those awkward things in his ears. It sometimes got bad when the only thing he could hear were his thoughts.

* * *

      When Thursday night rolled by, he was decidedly thankful for finally getting a break from it and focusing on the game, a nice evening in and nothing else. However, it obviously took less than five minutes for the topic of the newcomer to slip into the conversation, and it was nothing he could do to stop his eyes from rolling quite painfully to the back of his head.

      “He is quite charming indeed, helped me carry my bags up today,” Mrs. Brown said, and a hum of agreement rose in the room. “Very polite as well, and has a delightful accent. Also, he’s not too hard on the eyes.” She spoke the last sentence in a hushed, feigningly secretive tone with a wink.

      “And is 50 years younger than yourself, Margaret. Calm your lady parts down.” Mrs. Taylor intervened in her characteristic snort. “Alec, darling, your move. Let young lady over there have her dreams.”

      As he moved a piece to its place, he couldn’t help but think that everything had changed, and he had never really liked changes; that one would not be any different. However, he brushed himself off for overreacting again and sighed, took a sip of his hot chocolate and focused back on the game.

* * *

      It took the guy one more week to finish renovating the studio, and the gossip had still had not died down. The time when he had to lug his piano up six flights of stairs at 4 PM with his friends had everyone from the building attending and laughing except Alec, who had groaned in his pillow for fifteen minutes, and he knew he wasn’t reasonable and it was a decent hour of the day, but his shift started in two hours and that was enough time for him to sleep before he had to soldier on through hoards clients and politely ignoring every attempt of getting hit on. It took him fifteen minutes before he quit, went and poured himself a black cup of coffee and turned the TV as loud as it went. The walls were too thin and it was too shitty to cover all the noise though, so he was forced to listen to it.

      “Alec, grandma says you go down. She made lasagna.” Mrs. Anderson’s nephew knocked at his door, and it was Tuesday, of course. He hadn’t eaten anything cooked for a while because whenever he had free time, he slept, and his stomach rumbled at the thought of good food. And yet, when he realized he would have to meet the guy, he decided to go back to bed instead, thinking the guy better be grateful Alec didn’t go down there and break his neck.  

      “I can hear your TV! I know you’re in there!” And damn if the kid did not have some serious energy to be rattling his door like that, but Alec was nothing but determined in everything he did, so he buried himself deeper into the covers and waited until the kid left.

* * *

      Next Thursday was the only time he really wanted to leave backgammon night, and if that wasn’t enough to make him _loathe_ the guy, he didn’t know what was. All everyone talked about was how _wonderful_  he was, how _sweet_ , how _well-mannered_ but also very _funny_ , and each adjective snapped his nerves, one by one; when Mrs. Taylor mentioned inviting him for next backgammon night, he snapped.

      “What is up with this guy anyway?” he threw his hands up in confusion. “He keeps waking me up at the worst hours of the morning with all the noises he’s making.”

      “Oh dear, he brought brownies to apologize for all the disturbance last time. He works in the afternoon, so early morning is the only time he can have people working.” Mrs. Clark chimed in, not taking her eyes off the board. “You didn’t come, Alexander, but I am very sure you two would get along very well.”

      “He’s a wonderful young man.” Mrs. Taylor joined in, and if Alec didn’t know better, he would say that was a very suggestive smile she was showing. “I can say you would get along very well indeed.” _It was,_ and Alec was torn between wanting to sew his mouth shut in order not do anything as dumb as telling them he was gay _ever again_ , and revolt at the fact they thought he would be into someone as _obnoxious_ as that guy.

      It was quite pitiful, being so angry at the dude without even having seen him, but his sleep schedule had always been fucked up enough, with the slightest disturbance setting him off for weeks of really bad moods. And plus, that building and its environment was the only place he felt even remotely welcome or comfortable in; after years of living between constant screams, shattered china and the sound of skin hitting skin, he was glad the only thing he heard before he fell asleep was the rumble of cars on the highway and the occasional soap opera from a loud TV in an adjacent apartment.

      He liked it like that, _just like that._ So nobody could blame him for the fact that he didn’t want it to change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I will try to make this as light and happy as possible, so please bear with me through the trip!  
> Inspired by a plot idea on Tumblr.


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Sorry this took me so long, I haven't exactly had the best summer, but I hope I'll be able to post a little bit more from now on!  
> I will sometimes be adding media if it feels, so if there's this sign - (x) -, there's probably a song or an image or something. In this chapter it's a song. Enjoy :)

Things calmed down after a while, and Alec was for once glad everyone in the building was unusually perceptive, as no one bothered him with mentions of the new neighbor after they saw he wasn’t too happy with him being mentioned. He started getting used to the idea eventually, his neighbor becoming something like a hole in your favorite sweater that is somewhere almost on your back and you are aware it’s there, but if you can’t see it, you can pretend it doesn’t exist and you wear your sweater anyway. Sometimes he could hear an unfamiliar laughter from Mrs. Brown’s apartment when he took his morning (afternoon) shower, but that was fairly easy to ignore if you were willing enough. And Alec was.

It took him around a week from the time he snapped at backgammon night to have anything to think about in that matter. The guy’s and his work schedules never seemed to coincide, and after he got used to hearing rustling noises above at the goddamnest earliest hours in the morning and actually managed to sleep through them, he realized that wasn’t such a bad thing. It meant he never actually got to see him.

Again, for a week. It was an awfully cloudy Wednesday afternoon when he ran out of edible things in his fridge and decided a grocery run was long due. He didn’t calculate, however, the fact that those clouds could possibly turn into rain, and so he ended up running with two full bags towards the entrance to the building, soaked to the bone. Someone held the door for him, however, and he almost shouted colorful blessings for the good soul in his mind, sneaking inside the hall.

“Thank you,” he spoke, and careful to stand at a respectable distance from the legs and the huge box he saw in front of him, he shook his head of water, spraying the droplets all around and letting the wet strands fall uncomfortably over his eyes. When he rose his gaze, he blamed them for what he saw in front of him.

“You’re welcome,” the guy in front of him spoke with a grin, and even Alec had to admit he was not too hard on the eyes.

_Please let him be an estranged nephew of someone._

“Hi, you must be Alec. I’m Jace, I just moved in the apartment above you.”

_Goddammit._

“Nice to meet you! I would shake your hand, but you seem to be quite busy,” the guy added with a smirk that looked all too fitting on his face, motioning with his chin to the bags Alec held on to.

“Yeah. Nice to meet you too,” Alec added in the flattest tone he ever heard from himself, slightly narrowing his eyes, and the guy must have gotten the hint as his smirk dropped just a bit and his hand flew to fix his coat. _Uncomfortable._

 _‘Well he better be,’_ Alec thought, _‘considering how uncomfortable I feel around here now.’_

“Well, I gotta go now. See you around.” It sounded quite civil from him but the guy seemed speechless, and he gave him a barely there nod as Alec moved past him and towards the stairs.

To his horror, the huge box he saw earlier and took a good look at from the stairs seemed to be nothing else but a 7.1 speaker system.

* * *

 

Alec was living his worst nightmare and he knew it; except it wasn’t one of those nightmares where you could slap or pinch yourself and wake up. No, it was one of those where you weren’t actually _sleeping_.

The guy was apparently a music enthusiast, having it on anytime he was home, and lately that had become way too often. He didn’t know what job the guy had and he didn’t care, but if only it took more of his time, Alec would have been slightly happier.

It didn’t, and after one late shift which almost blended into morning, Alec jumped out of bed on the sudden tune of _Spice Girls_. At 10 AM.

He had tried to understand his neighbor’s unusual music taste and shut up about it because he didn’t want anyone, including himself, to think he cared, but blasting Bootylicious and singing it at the top of your lungs on a Thursday morning should have been illegal.

Getting fully out of bed, he stomped his way to the bathroom and to the wall he knew had the pipes which went through other apartments, and proceeded to send a message by thoroughly banging on that wall. The music was instantly turned down, only the faintest trace of Beyonce still singing left in the suddenly quiet atmosphere, and Alec sighed, returning to his bed, but as he predicted, his body considered 4 hours of sleep were enough for the day.

Needless to say, he was grumpy through the rest of his free day, always arranged so he could attend backgammon night. Everyone had noticed his more than usual silent mood, but nobody seemed to want to comment. Alec didn’t either, catching all the worried looks thrown his way and trying to subdue his permanent frown, but probably royally failing to do so.

* * *

 

Next Thursday and after long, long days of awful piano music that seemed like it was played by a monkey dancing on the keys and equally endless pipe banging sessions, he was at Mrs. Anderson’s door at quarter to eight, a bit before the usual time because everybody knew that if you wanted to get the best cookies, you were early. He knocked on the door twice and waited, but two minutes after nobody answered. He knocked again, ringing the doorbell as well, but the apartment was strangely quiet when he pressed his ear up against the door.

A quarter worried and three quarters annoyed from the added exhaustion of the past days, he made his way back to his apartment, a thousand scenarios running through his head, when he heard laughter from above. Indeed, it seemed like his neighbor had guests, and when listening more closely, he distinguished Mrs. Taylor’s voice amongst them, followed by others. It seemed like the whole building was there, and the laughter turned into masterfully played piano music and enthusiastic clapping.

His annoyance grew; he wouldn’t have gone if he had known, but the issue was that he _hadn’t_. A familiar  _burned_ somewhere deep inside, reminiscent of feelings he thought he had long buried, but traces of which seemed more than alive now. They were like a wave most of the time, slowly coming and crashing at his feet, but sometimes growing until they were high enough to douse him, and he couldn’t stay there enough for that to happen.

[(x)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-MT5zeY6CU)

Grabbing a coat and a scarf from the rack, he locked his door and almost ran down the five flights down, feeling like he could finally breathe properly once he reached the chilly fall air. Every breath felt refreshing, freezing his thoughts as he walked towards the park and his bench, the one place that never failed to bring him solitude.

In the day, it was shaded by a huge tree which almost reached over it, and in the night it was only lit up by the lights from a nearby fountain, and the cover of semi darkness, away from the rest of the park, had always been perfect for him to just sit and relax.

He approached it as he arrived, tightening his too thin coat around him, but he realized when he was a few steps in front of it that someone was sitting on it already. He took a second to adjust to the lack of light and properly looked, noticing the person was a guy, dressed in what seemed like a really eccentric suit and a trench coat over it.

He couldn’t help but grow even more annoyed at the theft of his spot even when he knew it wasn’t the guy’s fault, and he turned around on his foot, ready to find another bench, when somebody spoke behind him.

“Hey. You should stay. You look cold, and this place is a bit warmer.”

Alec turned around but sat in his place, ready to say no as he would usually have and go find someplace else, when the guy spoke again.

“Come on. Looks like I stole your spot, and I’d feel awful for you to go somewhere else,” he said, pointing at all the other empty benches around. Despite himself, Alec found himself walking towards the bench and sitting down on it, taking a proper look at the guy as well as he could in the dim light.

He had dark hair, styled carefully with what seemed like streaks of another color, and Alec noticed a dab of makeup. He was pretty sure that if Izzy were there, she would have confirmed it was eyeliner or something, along with the fact that the suit was probably satin or velvet or some other expensive material Alec had no clue about.

He must’ve been staring too intensely because the guy chuckled; Alec rose his eyes immediately, meeting his and thanking the sky for the fact that it was dark, because he was pretty sure his face was scarlet with embarrassment. The guy didn’t seem to mind however, looking at him with a wide smile on his face. If the lights were on, Alec would have been able to see all the emotions flickering behind his smile and his eyes and manage the situation accordingly, but in the darkness he was like blind and forced to be spontaneous, thing which he loathed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch your name. I’m Magnus.”

“Alec,” he answered, wondering if he should have shaken his hand, but the guy made no motion of doing so and he didn’t either, letting the silence settle for a few moments.

“So Alec, what brings you here at this hour?” Magnus asked, and Alec could hear the sort of playfulness and amusement in his voice and wondered how he could have answered that accordingly.

Childhood trauma? Lasting mental issues? Stupid emotions?

“Problems at home.”

“Fight with your girlfriend?” he drawled.

Alec shuddered.

“No, nothing like that… I’m single. And I don’t quite… go that way,” he shared almost without thinking. Alec definitely didn’t believe in auras, but the guy had something about him that made him simply not keep it back and for once, he perhaps did not feel like shutting up either.

“Ah.” The guy, Magnus, seemed almost satisfied. “If it helps, I’m here because my girlfriend and I are over.”

Silence settled yet again, partly because Alec had no clue what to answer and partly because he felt slightly disappointed. Magnus must have felt it though, probably knew exactly it would happen and he chuckled, breaking the awkwardness.

“Don’t worry, I don’t _only_ go that way. And plus it was long due. You know what they say, never get back with your exes. Very right indeed.”

Alec smiled for a second at the revelation and remembered all the three exes he had: all either closeted, douchebags or, in all cases, both. None of them seemed to be able to comprehend anything about him or anything much either, so he had never tried to tell them anyway. Couldn’t imagine he would get back with them anytime soon.

“So then, what are you running away from?”

“New neighbor. Really annoying, keeps blasting his music and waking me up and I doubt I can stand it for much longer. Might kill him in his sleep anytime now.” It was as much of an outburst as anyone would get from Alec, and strangely it felt _good_.

“Oooh fiery. I like it.” Magnus answered, winking at him, and Alec turned his head away to hide his growing smile. “Might not be smart to confess a possible crime to a stranger, but it’s different with an acquaintance. Would you wanna tell me more over a drink?”

Alec’s mood instantly deflated, realizing that that was not him in the slightest and he got up from the bench. “Uh I’m sorry, but I… should head home.”

“Oh. Okay. Can I have your number though or you can get mine? So we can make a schedule for the usage of this spot,” Magnus asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

Alec smiled and nodded, accepting the phone which was put into his hand and handing his over. He put his number and his name in it and gave it back, taking his in return. He expected a cheeky emoji or a ridiculous nickname according to what he saw of the guy’s personality, but all he saw in return was ‘Magnus Bane’, and he couldn’t help but smile again.

“Call me whenever,” he added, and Alec nodded, taking a few steps backwards from the bench.

“Okay. Good night.”

“Good night,” the guy answered, and Alec walked away in earnest.

* * *

 

When he passed by Mrs. Anderson’s apartment, there were noises bustling from the inside and he stopped to hear, noticing familiar voices but not one of a young man. He raised his hand to knock but decided against it at the last second, going up the stairs left to his apartment and getting in.

With an unfamiliar sense of calmness, he got ready for bed in less than a few minutes, while his peace still lasted. However, immediately after turning off the last light in his room and getting into his bed, the sound of piano notes struck through the night, and Alec instantly felt ready to scream and go to his bathroom to do his usual banging on pipes ritual, but the melody was like nothing else he had heard before from above.

It was slow and melancholic, almost sounding like it was carried through by the rays of moonlight sneaking through his open window. He dropped his head on the pillow and let nothing pass through his head but the music, eyes closed and probably the most peaceful he had ever felt. Immediately after it finished, last notes gently fading through, he feel asleep quicker than he ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I do not know what happened... I am not a Malec shipper in the slightest, quite the opposite... So you should know that even if something happens with them because I do not know what I will be writing in detail, Jalec is very much main and endgame here.  
> See you soon!


End file.
